Duke  University  Libraries 

Communications 
Conf  Pam  #366 


HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES,  Dec.    7/  1864.-.Referred 
to  Comraitteo  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

[By  the  Chair.] 


MESSAGE   OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  6,1864. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

In  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  23d  ultimo,  I  herewith  trans- 
mit communications  from  tho  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  of  War, 
relative  to  the  protection  secured  for  the  cotton  under  their  con- 
trol, belonging  to  the  Confederate  States,  against  exposure  to  the 
weather. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


COMMUNICATION  FROM    SECRETARY  OF  TREASURY. 

Treasury  Department,  C.  S.  A,,  ) 
Richmond,  Dec.  1,  18G4.      S 
To  the  President : 

Sir  :  In  obedience  to  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives on  the  23d  instant,  requesting  the  President  "  to  inform 
the  House  whether  the  cotton  belonging  to  the  Confederate  States 
is  securely  sheltered  from  the  weather;  and  if  it  is  not,  then  to  inform 
this  House  who  the  ofBcers  and  agents  are  to  whose  care  the  cotton 
has  been  confided,"  I  have  the  honor  to  furnish  tho  information  re- 
quired. It  is  contained  in  the  enclosed  report  from  the  chief  of  the 
Produce  Loan  Bureau,  which  I  beg  leave  respectfully  to  submit. 

Very  respectfully, 

G.  A.  TRENHOLM, 
Secretary  of  Treasury. 


COMMUNICATION  FROM  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

War    Department,  C.    S.   A.,  ) 
Richmond,  Nov.  29,  1864.    5 
To  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States  : 

Sir  :  I  have  received  the  following  resolution  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
reaentativos,  referred  by  your  Excellency  to  this  Department : 


<«  Resolved,  That  the  President  be  respectfully  requested  to  inform 
this  House  whether  the  cotton  belonging  to  the  Confederate  States 
is  securely  protected  from  the  weather  ;  and  if  it  is  not,  then  to  inform 
this  House  who  the  officers  and  agents  are  to  whose  care  the  cotton  ha8 
been  confided." 

In  response  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  report  from 
Lieut.  Col.  Bayne,  in  charge  of  cotton  and  foreign  supplies,  containing 
the  information  called  for  by  the  House,  so  far  as  the  cotton  con- 
trolled by  this  Department  is  involved. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War. 


REPORT  OF  LIEUTENANT  COLONJIL  BAYNE. 

Richmond,  Nov.  29,  1864.  ' 

Hon.  Jame3  a.  Seddon, 

Secretary  of  War: 

Sir  :  In  response  to  Ihe  enclosed  resolution  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, transmitted  to  you  by  his  Excellency  the  President, 
and  endorsed  to  rae  for  attention,  I  have  the  honor  to  say  that  the 
War  Department  controls  only  about  twenty  thousand  bales  of  cot- 
ton ;  that  all  of  this  is  under  shelter  and  protected  against  the 
weather,  except  such  as  may  have  been  delivered  for  transportation, 
or  may  now  be  in  transit  from  the  interior  to  the  sea-coast,  to  be  ex- 
ported in  accordance  with  the  regulations  upon  commerce,  established 
by  the  President,  under  act  of  February  6,  1864. 

The  cotton  thus  delivered,  or  in  transit,  is,  as  far  as  I  am  advised,  in 
open  or  box  cars  at  railroad  depots,  under  cover. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

THOS.  L.  BAYNE, 

Lieut.  Col.  in  charge  of  cotton  and  foreign  supplies.  War  Department. 


REPORT  OF  CHIEF  OF  PRODUCE  LOAN  OFFICE. 

Tresaurv  Department,      ) 
Produce  Loan  Office,  Nov.  28,  1864.  ) 

Hon.  G.  A.  Treniiolm, 

•  Secretary  of  Treaaury  : 

Sir  :  1  have  the  honor  to  make  to  you  the  following  report  in  reply 
to  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  23d 
instant,  requesting  the  President  "to  inform  the  House  whether  the 
cotton,  belonging  to  the  Confederate  States,  is  securely  sheltered  from 
the  vreather  ;  and  if  it  is  not,  then  to  inform  the  House  who  the  officers 
and  agents  are  to  whose  care  the  cotton  has  been  confided." 

It  is  believed  that  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  cotton  purchased  by 
this  Department — and  that  collected  by  it  as  tithes,  constituting  more 
than  nine-tenths  of  the  cotton  o^ned  by  the  Government — is  securely 
sheltered  and  protected  from  the  weather. 

A  considerable  portion  of  it  is  stored  in  warehouses  in  cities  and 
towns  ;  but  the  greater  part  is  stili  located  upon  the  plantations  in  the 
several  States  where  it  was  purchased,  the  planters  having  signed 
■written  obligations  to  take  due  care  of  the  cotton  and  deliver  it  when 
ordered  by  proper  authority,  and  the  agents  of  the  Government,  in 
each  case,  having  certified  that  it  was  safely  stored  in  a  covered  build- 
ing. 

The  general  agent  in  each  State  has  also  been  directed  to  make 
frequent  inspections  of  his  own  purchases,  and  to  report  their  condi- 
tion to  this  cffice,  which  has  been  done  promptly  in  most  cases. 

It  appears  from  these  reports,  and  from  letters  received  from  Pro- 
duce Loan  agents,  that  the  Government  cotton  in  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama,  is  generally  in  good  condition, 
and  is  well  secured  and  protected  from  the  weather. 

The  bale-rope  and  bagging,  hovicver,  on  the  earlier  purchases  have 
rotted,  and  this  cotton,  although  secure,  cannot  be  removed  without 
repairing  or  rebaling,  which  is  done  whenever  it  is  needed  for  shipment 
or  for  other  purposes.  In  Mississippi,  I  regret  to  inform  you,  a  large 
portion  of  the  Government  cotton  has  been  left  unsheltered  and  un- 
protected, and  much  of  it  has  perished  from  spoliations  of  friend  and 
foe,  and  even  from  the  depredations  of  animals.  This  has  been  mainly 
owing  to  the  facts  that  a  portion  of  the  State  has  been  accupied  by 
the  enemy  ;  that  other  large  portions  hav6  been  subjected  to  frequent 
invasions  and  raids  ;  that  planters  have  been  driven  from  their  homes  ; 
and  that  the  cotton  has  been  abandoned  and  left  without  costody. 
Attempts,  with  but  partial  success,  have  been  made  to  remove  the  cot- 
ton thus  exposed,  and  much  of  it  has,  of  necessity,  been  left,  tempo- 
rarily, unsheltered  at  railroad  depots  and  other  places  where  it  has 
been  concentrated. 

The  extent,  however,  of  the  exposure,  great  as  it  has  been,  of  Gov- 
ernment cotton  has  been  much  exaggerated.  Frequent  representations 
upon  the  subject  have  been  made  to  this  Department,  but,  in  not  a 


few  instances,  it  has  been  found,  upon  investigation,  that  much  of  the 
neglected  and  unsheltered  cotton  throughout  the  whole  couptry,  sup- 
posed to  belong  to  the  Government,  was  the  property  of  foreigners 
and  other  absentees. 

The  Government  cotton  in  Missaissippi,  until- July  last,  was' under 
the  custody  of  Mr.  J.  D.  B,  De  Bow,  the  general  agent  for  the  Pro- 
duce Loan  for  that  State,  and  it  is  believed  that  he  exerted  himself 
with  energy  and  fidelity  for  its  preservation,  although  he  may  not 
possibly  have  adopted  the  best  means  for  the  end  The  Hon.  J.  W. 
Clapp  has  succeeded  Mr,  De  Bow  as  general  agent,  and  he  is  now  en- 
gaged in  making  an  inspection  of  the  condition  of  the  cotton  belong- 
ing to  the  Government  throughout  the  State,  and  he  is  using  all  prac- 
ticable means  for  its  security. 

Some  of  the  cotton  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  has  recently 
been  left  unsheltered,  sometimes  for  weeks,  at  the  railroad  depots 
awaiting  transportation  to  Wilmington  and  Charleston  for  shipment 
abroad,  and  many  complnints  have  been  madii  of  supposed  neglect. 
This  cotton  has  been  gathered  from  the  plantations  in  different  parta 
of  the  Sta'es  named,  and  hauled  to  the  depots,  where  delays  have  oc- 
curred in  obtaining  transportation,  owing  to  the  pressure  upon  the 
railroads,  which  have  been  engaged  almost  exclusively  in  bringing 
forward  supplies  for  the  array.  The  temporary  exposure  of  the  Gov- 
ernment cotton  in  these  cases  has,  therefore,  been  unavoidable,  and  it 
is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  because,  frequently,  of  the  decayed  con- 
dition of  the  rope  and  bagging  with  which  it  was  enveloped  ;  and  I 
do  not  think  that,  under  the  circumstances,  the  agents  of  this  Depart- 
ment can  justly  be  charged  with  neglect. 

The  agents  of  the  Department,  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  were 
instructed,  several  months  ago,  to  make  inspection  of  each  and  every 
lot  of  Government  cotton  in  their  respective  States,  and  report  to 
this  oifice  oil  the  facts  relating  to  its  condition  ;  but,  as  these  reports 
have  not  yet  been  receivea,  1  am  unable  to  give  you  any  information 
upon  the  subject. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

A.  ROANE, 
Chief  of  Produce  Loan. 


it-  30G 


pHS3 


